SAMBA solved all our interoperability problems at the lab and the transition to a complete Linux-based system was so smooth that many of us realized the difference only after a week. The most noticeable thing about it was the simplicity. I decided to implement SAMBA at home the day I had two PCs at my disposal. This story is about that day. The day I set up a SAMBA-based network with a Linux and a Windows PC at home. I will take you through my setup and try to help you do it yourself. As the SAMBA slogan goes: Opening Windows to a Wider World!
One caveat here: this is a very basic step-by-step workshop that will let you set up a SAMBA server in no time with the bare minimum configurations. To really understand its power, you will have to read and experiment with stuff that is way beyond the scope of this story. I will assume that since you intend to go ahead with this, you can manage to configure LAN cards and make both machines network ready. And you understand basic networking principles such as IP addresses, workgroups, hostname resolution and the PING command. I will refer to my home network all through the story.
